More About:

Mode of action

“If it is only killing weeds one specific way, eventually there’s going to be a genetic anomaly that will show up that is not sensitive to the herbicide,” Baumann said.

Once this happens and nothing is done to control it, seed production will spread it all over the field, he said.

“The key to all of this is the development of new chemistries that have different sites of action or simply the use of other products that have a different site of activity in the plant,” Baumann said. “In years past, we have used three or four herbicides that had different modes of action and attacked different sites in a plant.”

Meanwhile, Dr. Tom Wagner, clinic director of Scott and White Arrington Road Clinic in College Station, said in the 1960s, treatment of various skin infections would involve “a garden variety of penicillin.”

“But in the late 1960s, patients developed penicillin resistance and synthetic penicillins followed which that worked for a while,” he said. “Subsequently, the issue of antibiotic over-utilization emerged. This resulted from a combination of several factors. Medical providers would inappropriately prescribe an antibiotic for the common cold. At times, patients would pressure a provider in the exam room for antibiotic therapy when any nasal congestion, sore throat or cough was present.”